Abstract

BALLESTER, Benjamín et al. A late archaic enclave in the Gualaguala coastal spring (Atacama desert, northern Chile). Chungará (Arica) [online]. 2018, vol.50, n.3, pp.349-367. ISSN 0717-7356.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0717-73562018005000702.

We present an initial report of recent excavations of a settlement with stone architecture near the city of Mejillones, on the Atacama Desert coast, dated to 5000 cal. BP. Through analysis of its material assemblage, we discuss the strategy of import to the site of a production geographically extended over different environments on the littoral and the desert. This, together with collective labor and the presence of human interments underneath the floors of the enclosures, could account for a settlement pattern with stable residential camps. We discuss this by considering archaeological data from other sites of the Late Archaic Period on the coastal desert (6500-4000 cal. BP).

Keywords : Residential camp; social complexity; sedentarization; hunter-gatherers; markers.

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